Humans are social beings. Man cannot live alone. You have to enter into relationships with your fellow beings. The essence of your life revolves around mutual dependence and trust. Your life revolves around the relationships you build and sustain. It is one of the most profound experiences of your life. Today we will discuss how to build healthy relationships.
The need for building healthy relationships is inherent to humans. It begins the moment a mother conceives an embryo. The relationship that starts between an embryo and a mother, modifies and continues till its last breath. The impact that strong and supportive relations have on your overall success in life is worth noting as well.
Positive and healthy relations make you feel happier and more content overall. On the other hand, strained relationships seriously impact your performance potential. It decreases the quality of your life as well. Since you invest more energy in mending relationships rather than doing anything purposeful.
Therefore, today we would be talking about the importance of strong relationships and how to build healthy relationships. Because just as you can learn any other skill, strong relationship skills can also be learnt. All it requires is some time and effort to master these skills. So, let’s hop on to it now.
Why healthy relationships are so important?
As social beings, humans have a deep desire to be close to other people. The relations you share with other people have a vital impact on your mental and emotional well-being. Humans crave good relationships and they are imperative for survival.
There is evident research to prove how good relations affect the overall life of a person. A positive relationship (whether familial, friendships, work or romantic relationships) built on mutual understanding and respect encourages you in your personal and professional life.
The benefits of healthy and positive relationships are immense. Positive relations contribute to a healthy, happy, and long life. Healthy and strong connections are great positivity boosters as you feel more loved and encouraged. You are better able to cope with stress as you can easily share your problems with your loved ones.
You feel like even if you commit mistakes you won’t be looked down upon. Moreover, healthy relationships give you the emotional support that is required to heal from a painful disease or surgery. Research suggests that couples who undergo heart surgery survive the initial post-surgery months more easily than single patients.
Besides, being in a healthy relationship gives you a sense of purpose as doing something for someone else makes you feel better. You tend to take on healthier behaviours easily in life. In fact, healthy relations can add years to your life.
Having said that, some people naturally like being alone as well. So, if you are a loner, that’s okay too. But, investing your time in building healthy relationships, even two or three, might help in walking you through tough times in life. Having just a few healthy relations can have a drastically positive impact on your life.
7 Strong relationship tips
Now that we have discussed the importance of healthy relations in life, here are a few tips that will help you to develop more healthy relations in life.
1- Listen actively and effectively
Active listening is an effective tool to build a strong relationship. It boosts the self-esteem of the other person. Listening and communicating effectively are one of the most important soft skills that you need to work on. In order to develop strong and healthy bonds with people, you need to be an active listener.
Active listening means listening attentively to what the other person has to say. Understanding the meaning and paraphrasing it in your own words for further clarification. When you are listening actively you try to understand the underlying meaning of what the other person intends to say. You communicate it back to them using phrases like, ‘What you are trying to say is that _____’ or ‘If I am not wrong you meant that ______.’
Reflect it on the other person for further clarification. When you start practising this tip you’ll come across as a trusted and supportive person. People usually like those who listen to them and understand them. This is one of my favourite pieces of relationship advice when it comes to building healthy relationships.
You’ll easily make healthy and positive connections if you just work on this skill alone. Here are some steps to effective listening.
2- Give time and value to people
In this fast-paced world where everyone tries to fit in more than they can in a day. You have big goals and aim for the most. You want to touch the heights of success as soon as possible. Somehow in this chase for success, we miss out on important occasions and relationships that are a source of strength and support.
Even when you are physically present with someone you mentally might not be. So, instead of multitasking, checking your phone and answering texts be present at the moment the next time you meet someone. Value people and see how they reciprocate the value.
If you want to build healthy relationships enjoy your present instead of thinking about the future or remembering the past. Once you devote your time and energy to building healthy relationships you’ll never feel the void of emotional support when in need.
3- How to build healthy relationships– Trust more
Trust is the foundation of every relationship. A relationship built on trust lasts longer and is more durable than relations built on any other parameter. Trust takes courage. Trust does not develop overnight. In fact, it builds when you genuinely have an interest in others life. You are a trustworthy person if people feel supportive around you. To trust is more important than love. Because when you trust someone you easily love them.
But, you cannot love a person whom you don’t trust. Similarly, you will not be trusted by others if you keep doubting yourself. You need to have trust in yourself first. And you should trust your ideas and goals.
You should have trust in your abilities even if you go through setbacks in life. Because you are human and you are bound to make mistakes. So, How do build a strong relationship? Trust is the answer to it.
4- Appreciate differences for building healthy relationships
Wherever you go, you will meet different people with different opinions. Mostly their perspective might not coincide with yours. People with good relationships know how to deal with diversity.
They not only accept diversity but welcomes it. When you are working in a diverse environment you have to deal with many people. You have to interact with your seniors and juniors. In such places, you need to accept diverse opinions and incorporate them thoughtfully in your decisions.
Even while making decisions at home you need to take the opinion of your family members first. Learning to appreciate differences is one of the biggest challenges we encounter every day.
Although we expect others to be somewhat like us at the beginning of a relationship. But every person is unique. We are raised differently and so are opinions will beg to differ as well. We need to accept diversity to build healthy relationships.
5- How to build healthy relationships – Work on your communication skills
Good relationships are built on good communication skills. Whether you are working in an office or are a stay-at-home person you need to communicate with the people around you. In workplaces, it is even more important to communicate openly and honestly. Needless to say that it stays as important other than the workplace as well.
But the point here is that your close relations might figure out what you are going through even if you don’t tell yourself. But at the workplace, you need to lay your points straight. You need to be open and honest with your opinions. Miscommunication might lead to a culture of backstabbing.
Poor communication adds to keeping grudges. It is a blame booster. On the contrary, good communication will boost your morale and confidence. Therefore, to build healthy relationships whether familial, workplace or romantic relationships you need to communicate openly. Here are some effective relationship tips.
6- Encourage feedback to build a strong relationship
Strong relationships are built and sustained on constructive feedback. A genuine interest in each other’s life makes an ordinary relationship positive and healthy. According to my opinion feedback is free information. It is the food for progress. You have the choice of to whether take it on board or not.
When you learn the art of taking and giving feedback you progress differently. You get to know a lot of different perspectives and opinions. Feedback keeps innovation alive. Whether you are at your workplace or have to make important decisions at home you need to take the feedback of the people affected by the decisions as well.
You cannot just go about doing what you like. Feedback helps in bringing entirely new perspectives. It can be a source of forging positive and healthy relationships. Although it may not always taste great, it is good for your progress.
7- How to build healthy relationships– Develop empathy
Empathy makes you human. It is the basis of any relationship because people will always remember how you made them feel. Empathy is placing oneself in another’s shoes. It is the capacity to understand or feel what the other person is going through. It is understanding their frame of reference.
Every individual has a background and a life that is hidden from the world. A seemingly happy person might be depressed within. You need to be empathetic towards others. If you are understanding, you will not be treated with indifference as well. So, whether you are thinking about how to have a healthy relationship with your boyfriend?
You need to act human first. You need to keep your empathetic side alive to build a strong relationship. If you do not have this ability you’ll come across as an emotionless person.
Conclusion;
As humans, our life revolves around relationships. You can’t live in isolation nor can you live peacefully with negative relations. So, to live a happier, healthier, and content life you need to build healthy relationships. Building healthy relations with people also improves your personal and professional life apart from affecting your sense of wellbeing.
All in all, if you want to build healthy relationships you need to ensure that the relationship you have with yourself is healthy first. You need to accept and celebrate diversity. And You should be courageous enough to trust others. You should actively listen to other people and be present in the moment.
Develop your communication skills. Learn to give and take feedback. Last but not least be empathetic and compassionate towards others. Hence, build healthy relationships by using these skills to improve the quality of your life. As Theodore Roosevelt said,
‘The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.’
